Wolfram Function Repository

Instant-use add-on functions for the Wolfram Language

Function Repository Resource:

 ShowQuotes

Source Notebook

Style the output so that quotation marks (as string characters) appear

Contributed by: Seth J. Chandler

ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"][expr]

shows any quotation marks in expr rather than suppressing them.

Examples

Basic Examples (3) 

Without wrapping the output in ShowQuotes, the front end defaults to suppress presentation of the quotation marks. The ShowQuotes function styles the output so that the quotation marks are visible:

In[1]:=
{"This is a quote", ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]["This is a quote"]}
Out[1]=

If there are no quotation marks in the input, no quotation marks appear in the output:

In[2]:=
ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"][34]
Out[2]=

Nested quotation marks appear with the backslash escape character:

In[3]:=
{"Hamelet said, \"To be or not to be\"", ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"][ "Hamelet said, \"To be or not to be\""]}
Out[3]=

Scope (2) 

ShowQuotes works even if the input is already styled:

In[4]:=
ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"][Style["hello", Red]]
Out[4]=

You can style the output from ShowQuotes:

In[5]:=
Style[ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]["goodbye"], Blue]
Out[5]=

Applications (1) 

Often, one might want to postfix ShowQuotes so that the textual input stands out:

In[6]:=
"By applying ShowQuotes using the postfix // notation, I draw attention away from the command in a way that is not the case when I have to write something like Style[\"Hello\",\"ShowStringCharacters->True\"" // ResourceFunction[ "ShowQuotes"]
Out[6]=

Properties and Relations (4) 

ShowQuotes[x_] is equivalent to Style[x,ShowStringCharacters->True]. The purpose of the command is mostly to provide a simpler notation:

In[7]:=
#["This is a quote"] & /@ {ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"], Style[#, ShowStringCharacters -> True] &}
Out[7]=

InputForm will generally result in the string characters being visible, but the cell label will have a //InputForm postfixed. Also, notice that the Head of the InputForm of "hello" is InputForm, whereas the Head of a ShowQuotes expression is Style:

In[8]:=
InputForm["hello"]
Out[72]=
In[73]:=
Map[Head, {InputForm["hello"], ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]["hello"]}]
Out[73]=

Be wary of order of operations when using the postfix form of ShowQuotes:

In[74]:=
includesStyle = "If I don't wrap this in parentheses, the assignment includes the style" // ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]
Out[74]=
In[75]:=
(excludesStyle = "If I do wrap this in parentheses, the assignment does not include the style") // ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]
Out[75]=
In[76]:=
{includesStyle, excludesStyle}
Out[76]=

ShowQuotes works within Dataset. Compare the following two outputs:

In[77]:=
{Dataset["hello"], Dataset["hello" // ResourceFunction["ShowQuotes"]]}
Out[77]=

Publisher

Seth J. Chandler

Version History

  • 1.0.0 – 10 July 2019

License Information